Participated · Series B · Oct 2024

Merlin Solar develops flexible solar panels built from monocrystalline silicon with increased front-and-back interconnections and springy interconnects to remain electrically resilient to cracking. The panels are significantly lighter than typical glass-framed modules, include an adhesive backing, conform to curved surfaces, and can route power around partially shaded cells. Merlin has found early traction with recreational-vehicle owners and commercial fleets, and has sold panels to customers including Perdue, Daimler, and Ryder for truck installations to reduce idling. The company’s design commands a price premium versus conventional panels, so Merlin targets applications where cost is not the sole decision factor; the company says ROI can be about a year and a half when minimizing truck idling. To scale, Merlin is eyeing the rooftop solar market and pursuing partnerships to expand its addressable market. The company recently completed a $31 million Series B to support that scaling and channel expansion.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Mynt is the parent of GCash, a digital cashless ecosystem and finance super app in the Philippines. The company also operates Fuse Lending, a tech-based lender offering microloans and business loans, and GXI, the mobile wallet operator for GCash. Mynt is valued at roughly PHP 286.4 billion (about $4.93 billion) and is described in the article as a roughly $5 billion unicorn. Its 2023 net income was PHP 6.7 billion ($115.39 million), triple the prior year. Ayala said there are large unrealized market opportunities for the GCash platform and sees substantial long-term growth potential. Ayala has increased its investment to take advantage of that growth and to reallocate capital to what it called "indubitable winners." Mynt operates the GCash app, offering a broad suite of digital financial services including payments, credit, savings, insurance, loans and investments. Led by CEO Martha Sazon, GCash is described as the #1 financial app in the Philippines and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Mynt since 2015. The platform serves over 48 million users and is on track to reach PHP3 trillion of gross transaction value. Through its subsidiary Fuse and banking partners, Mynt provides credit via a proprietary trust and scoring platform; GCredit disburses over P1 billion in loans each month and had disbursed P15 billion as of June 2021. Mynt has piloted GLoan, offering qualified users loans up to P25,000 repayable over 12 months, and plans to launch Buy Now, Pay Later products within the year. The company also runs a sustainability program, GForest, with over 8.7 million users converting app activity into real trees planted across the Philippines. Mynt is a Globe Telecom financial venture that operates the GCash mobile-payments service and offers micro-payment and mobile loan products. Its products are aimed at helping under- and unbanked consumers, and the company said it currently has three million users. Globe, the Philippines’ largest operator, has 66.6 million subscribers (just over 50% market share), supporting Mynt's distribution. The recent transaction gives Ant Financial and Ayala Corporation control stakes in Mynt—each taking 45%—while Globe retains a 10% stake. Ant Financial said it will use technology to upgrade GCash and provide cash to help scale Mynt’s financial products. The deal aligns with Ant Financial’s broader Southeast Asia expansion and fintech investments.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2021

SlashNext, based in Pleasanton, CA, provides SaaS-based spear‑phishing and human‑hacking defense across digital channels and apps. The company’s SlashNext 360° Defense Service employs its patented AI SEER technology to detect zero‑hour phishing threats via dynamic run‑time analysis of billions of URLs per day using virtual browsers and machine learning. It protects mobile apps, browser extensions, and APIs and integrates with mobile endpoint management and incident response services. SlashNext has developed reseller partnerships with Palo Alto Networks XSOAR Marketplace, Microsoft Azure Marketplace, Synnex, and over 50 VAR partners. Led by CEO Patrick Harr, the company aims to expand its AI cloud and on‑device multi‑channel, multi‑language detection of SMiShing, Vishing, BEC, bank fraud, scams, credential theft, ransomware, social engineering, and other malicious digital attacks. It will use the new funding to scale customer acquisition and operations domestically and internationally. SlashNext is a Pleasanton, CA-based provider of advanced protection solutions against socially engineered attacks, malware, exploits and data theft. Led by founder and CEO Atif Mushtaq, the company’s core product is the Active Cyber Defense System, a cloud-based "Progressive Learning" platform built specifically for cybersecurity. The system is designed to detect and block socially engineered attacks, malware and exploits across all networked devices. It targets protection for all versions of Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS devices as well as IoT devices, smart TVs, printers, medical devices and SCADA systems. Financially, SlashNext closed a $9M Series A in April 2017 led by Norwest Venture Partners and Wing Venture Capital, bringing total funding to over $10M.